Weekly Column: Long-Overdue Justice For Idaho Downwinders

Days before the 80^th anniversary of the first detonation of a nuclear weapon (the Trinity Test), Congress passed, and President Trump signed into law the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). The OBBBA included legislation I negotiated providing Idaho Downwinders, those affected by fallout from nuclear weapons testing, with long-overdue compensation through the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) for the impacts of subsequent Cold War-era above-ground nuclear weapons testing.

With the exception of the original Trinity Test in New Mexico, the 100 above-ground tests at the Nevada Test Site were the only atmospheric atomic weapons tests conducted in the continental United States. These tests released deadly radioactive material into the atmosphere. Researchers determined certain elements of the resulting fallout settled in states such as Idaho and Montana and found their way into food and milk supplies. Custer, Gem, Blaine and Lemhi counties were among those found to have had the highest levels in the nation of radioactive isotope Iodine-131 exposure. Radioactive contamination can manifest as various forms of cancer.

Much of Idaho’s fallout stems from a single aboveground test of a 14-kiloton bomb on June 5, 1952. It was the eighth test of a program known as Operation “Tumbler-Snapper,” and its fallout landed on Idaho in a severe rainstorm. Idahoans I have spoken with in Emmett and elsewhere have shared memories of waking to find their pastures and orchards covered with a fine, gray-white dust. My friend, Sheri Garmon, was just 6 months old when the “Tumbler-Snapper” detonated at 3:55 in the morning. Her father, Don, said nobody warned them that the white dust that drifted onto their fields was dangerous radioactive fallout. Like many Emmett residents, Sheri grew up drinking fresh milk produced by her family’s cows. Sheri later learned she had been exposed to the equivalent of 10,000 chest X-rays of radiation. When she was 30, she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Breast cancer followed. The cancer spread to her bones and liver, and she passed away at age 53.

In 1990, Congress recognized the need for the federal government to make amends for the harm caused to innocent citizens by nuclear testing, and passed RECA, which provides a one-time payment for individuals suffering from leukemia, thyroid cancer and other radiation-related illnesses connected to the tests. Unfortunately, the science at the time failed to recognize radioactive fallout is not restricted by state lines, and RECA only provided coverage for victims living in certain counties of Utah, Nevada and Arizona. Idaho, Montana, New Mexico and other nearby states were left out.

For the past several Congresses since an emotional meeting of 300 people in Emmett in 2004, I have introduced legislation to correct the geographic mistake and expand RECA coverage to affected states. We steadily made progress. In 2018, I chaired a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to discuss the need for the legislation. Idahoans Tona Henderson, who heads Idaho Downwinders in Emmett, and J. Truman of Malad, with Downwinders.Org, played key roles in the legislation and Senate hearing. In 2022, we secured an extension of the existing RECA program. Then, in July 2023, the U.S. Senate passed an amendment that would have expanded RECA to include Idaho victims. Unfortunately, the amendment was later stripped from the final legislation, and the program expired June 7, 2024.

But we did not give up. The OBBBA:

• Extended/reauthorized RECA compensation through December 31, 2027;
• Included Idaho in the list of affected states;
• Extended downwind eligibility states through November 1962;
• Set compensation for Downwinders and onsite participants at $100,000; and
• Expanded coverage for uranium miners.

Following the law’s expansion, Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-New Mexico) and I encouraged the Trump Administration to provide detailed guidance for claimants to access the RECA program. We will continue to work with the Trump Administration to ensure Idaho Downwinders and others affected get the just compensation they deserve.

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